Relocating a kitchen can work. It depends on whether the new room can take the lines a kitchen runs on: water in, a drain out, gas for a gas range, an exhaust duct to the outdoors, and power for every appliance. When each one can reach the new room without a long or awkward run, the move is on the table. When one can’t, that room may be the wrong one. Or the kitchen may be one to leave where it is.
The room you pick sets how far every line has to travel. It also sets what has to be opened up along the way. So a room that looks right on the floor plan can turn out to be the one with the longest runs. Find that out after the plans are set, and you’re redrawing them.
Relocating a Kitchen Moves Five Connections
The cabinets are what you picture. They’re the part you can see, and they can be built for whatever room you choose. Behind them sit five connections that the new room has to be able to take. Water has to come in. Waste has to drain out. A gas range needs a gas line. A ducted range hood needs a duct that reaches the outdoors.
And the appliances and lights need power on circuits that can carry them. Cabinets get made. Those five connections have to travel.
Those connections can also bring your town’s rules into the plan. According to one Pennsylvania state page, inspections are necessary in several cases, including changes to electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing systems. A kitchen move can touch all four of those. Rules can differ from town to town, so ask your municipality’s building code office what applies at your address before the plan is final.
This article picks up after a question you may have settled already. Lang’s post on whether to move the kitchen at all covers why people move a kitchen, and the pros and cons of the choice. If you’re still weighing that, start there. From here, the question narrows: what travels to the new room, and what the house has to allow.
How Far Will the Water, Drain and Gas Have to Travel?
As a general rule, the closer the new sink, dishwasher and range sit to where those lines already run, the less has to be opened up. A room across the house can mean opening up floors and ceilings along the way. The route is a question for a plumber and a gas fitter, not for the floor plan.
As a general rule, a drain works on gravity and has to fall as it runs to the point where it joins the rest of the system. So ask whether a sink in the new room can drain without changes to the floor or to the ceiling below. Then ask what sits under that room. A basement or crawl space can give those lines a path. A finished ceiling may mean opening it up to get them through.
If the kitchen cooks with gas, the range needs a gas line at its new spot. As a general rule, that line comes from where gas already runs in the house. Ask who would run it. Ask what path it would take, and whether that path crosses anything you’d rather leave closed.
Can the Range Hood Reach the Outdoors From the New Room?
Yes, when the duct can take a short, direct route to the outdoors. That’s the test. The farther the range sits from an outside wall or the roof, the harder that test gets. A range on an inside wall in the middle of the house can still work, but the duct may have farther to go.
On the duct itself, one U.S. government building-science guide says to choose a route that keeps the duct run short and keeps elbows in it to a minimum. It says longer ducts and added elbows reduce the flow rate, and that the loss can reach a point where a fan with a higher rated airflow has to be considered.
That guide’s examples include a range set against an inside wall, where the shortest way out may run through the attic, or up and through the cabinets. So ask the designer to draw the duct path on the plan, from the new range to the point where it leaves the house. If the range would sit far from an outside wall, treat that drawing as the test that can decide the room.
Will the Panel, Floor and Walls Allow the Move?
Maybe. It comes down to what the electrical panel can supply, where lines can pass through floors and ceilings, and whether a wall that would be opened carries load. A designer and the trades can answer all of that with the house in front of them. None of it can be settled from the drawing alone.
A kitchen’s appliances and lights sit on circuits. Ask for the list of circuits the planned appliances and lights would need. Then ask who confirms that the panel can supply them. An electrician can answer that with the panel in front of them, and the answer may shape what goes in the room.
Connecting the new room to the rest of the house can mean opening a wall, or taking one out. Ask whether that wall carries load. That’s a question for the designer and the builder, and it belongs early in the conversation. Don’t assume any wall can move.
What Happens to the Old Kitchen Room?
It’s still a room, with its own lines in the walls and floor. Each one needs a plan: removed, capped or left in place for something else. Ask the trades which applies. The room needs a job too, like a dining room or an office, and that plan belongs beside the kitchen plan.
Because the kitchen lands in a different room, you may be able to keep cooking in the old one while the new one is built. Ask whether that’s possible on your plan. Where it isn’t, the family needs somewhere else to cook, and that’s a question to settle before the work starts.
Lang’s post on planning for the weeks without a kitchen has a section on where you’ll cook while the kitchen is out of use. It’s a practical read when you’re picturing the gap between the old room and the new one.
What Makes One Kitchen Move Bigger Than Another?
It comes down to which connections change place, how far each one travels, how much of the floors and walls has to be opened to carry them, and what the old room needs once the kitchen leaves. The more of those pile up, the bigger the job gets.
Rooms can look alike on a drawing and sit far apart on that list. So expect the real answer to come after someone has walked the house. Those lines and walls aren’t on the drawing. They’re in the house.
For kitchen remodeling with Lang’s designers, the team talks with you, visits your home and finds out your must-haves. Lang’s designers work with you to find a layout that meets your needs and fits how you plan to use the kitchen.
Frequently Asked Questions About Moving a Kitchen
Does the new kitchen have to sit next to the old one?
Not necessarily. As a general principle, a room that shares a wall with the old kitchen can keep every run short, because the water and the drain may already sit on the other side of that wall. A room farther off can mean opening up more of the house to reach it. The designer and the plumber can weigh that on your plan.
Can I keep my cabinets and appliances when the kitchen moves?
That depends on whether the pieces suit the walls and layout of the new room. Some can come along. Others won’t fit the plan that the room allows. Ask the designer which is which before the layout is set. Design and cabinetry are part of what Lang’s does, so a designer can sort that out with you on the plan.
Do I need a permit to relocate a kitchen?
Ask your municipality’s building code office, because that’s the office that can tell you what applies at your address. One Pennsylvania state page lists electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing systems among the cases where inspections are necessary. Local rules can differ, so put the question to the code office early.
Why does a designer need to see the house before planning a kitchen move?
Because the move depends on things that aren’t on the drawing. The lines and the walls are in the house. Lang’s process includes a jobsite visit by its designers for a complete in-home analysis, which comes before the design team finalizes the floor plan. A room-to-room move is the kind of question to bring to that visit.
Will Lang’s help me decide which room can take the kitchen?
Lang’s designers work with you on the layout for your kitchen, and the team talks with you, visits your home and finds out your must-haves. Design consultations are available in the showroom and online by appointment. Which room can take the kitchen is a question for that conversation, with the house and your plans in view.
Bring the Candidate Rooms to a Design Consultation
In Lang’s 12-step remodeling process, designers visit the jobsite for a complete in-home analysis before the design team finalizes all dimensions, floor plans and mechanical specifications.
The room you choose fixes where every line has to go. So compare the candidate rooms while the drawings are still open, and not after they’re finished.
Lang’s 12-step remodeling process lays out the steps from the first appointment through the final plans, so you can see where a room decision fits in.
If you’re weighing a room for relocating a kitchen, bring photos or a floor plan and talk with Lang’s design team before the plan is set. Lang’s design showroom is in Newtown.